Certified Safe Farms

I am happy to announce that I will be trying to implement a new program here in Alamance County called Certified Safe Farms, in conjunction with the Agromedicine Institute of NC.

This program takes a comprehensive approach to looking at the safety of your farm and offers a cost-share to help pay for safety improvements to your farm; currently this program is being offered to farmers, livestock producers, and nursery operators. I’m sure that most of you notice on most of my newsletters that I send out, there is a blurb in each that reminds you to try to be safe as you do your job, and this program is an extension of that cause. You as the operator are the most important part of your operation, and if an accident was to happen, it would dramatically affect all that could be done.

This program has two sections, one is an on-farm safety review, where a representative from the Agromedicine Institute and I will come out and look at your equipment this includes tractors, plows, harrows, etc. and buildings and determine if any safety issues may exist. The second part of the program is a low-cost health screening, where nurses will take vital information and make recommendations if they note a concern. After this part is covered and if your receive a passing score of 85 or above on your farm then you will receive a sign that you can place on your farm, along with a spreadsheet outlining all the information that we take from the on-farm safety review. From this you may be able to take this information to your insurance agent, and he or she maybe able to adjust your premiums on your land and maybe your health insurance. I know that in this day and time, every farmer is looking for a way to save money where they can, and this may be a way to do that. There is quite a bit that goes into this program, so if you are interested in participating or have questions about the program, please feel free to give me a call at 336-570-6740 or come by the Extension Office and I will try to answer any questions that I can.

Here is a brochure that goes along with the program, and covers the highlights of this program.

I have talked to several folks about participating in the program, and I know that the busy season is now fully upon us. However with that being said, there is still time to get your name on the books for doing the evaluation process. We can schedule and do the evaluations until the end of August, and before you know it will be here! So I ask that if you are considering participating in this program, please go ahead and give me a call and we can set up a few dates that work with your schedule.

As always if you have any questions about the program, you can give me a call here at the office (336-570-6740).

NC State University and N.C. A&T State University work in tandem, along with federal, state and local governments, to form a strategic partnership called N.C. Cooperative Extension, which staffs local offices in all 100 counties and with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.